Elmore James - One Way Out

Side 1:
01) Talk To Me Baby (I Can't Hold Out)
02) Shake Your Moneymaker
03) Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby
04) It Hurts Me Too
05) The Sky Is Crying
06) Cry For Me Baby
07) Something Inside Of Me
08) Standing At The Crossroads

Side 2:
01) Coming Home
02) Rollin' And Tumblin'
03) Take Me Where You Go
04) I Need You
05) Person To Person
06) One Way Out
07) The Twelve Year Old Boy
08) Dust My Broom (I Believe My Time Ain't Long)
 

One Way Out (Mega)

One Way Out (Zippy)

This was probably the first Elmore James LP I bought, though I can't be sure after all this time. Issued in 1980, this was one of the earliest of the Charly R&B LPs. It contains a selection of tracks recorded by Elmore for Chicago label Chief in 1957 and for Bobby Robinson's NYC based Fire, Fury and Enjoy labels from 1959 to 1963. Many of the 1963 tracks weren't released until much later and sadly, posthumously, for Elmore died from a longstanding heart condition on May 24th 1963, three months after his final recording session in February of that year.

The compilation also contains the original August 1951 version of "Dust My Broom" which was his only recording for his first recording company, Trumpet of Jackson, Mississippi. In January 1952 Elmore started recording for the Bihari Brothers, despite the fact that he was still under contract to Trumpet. We've already featured collections of the Bihari brothers material on the blog (see bottom of post) much of which was originally released on the Meteor, Flair and Modern labels. The relationship with the Biharis lasted until January 1956 with a brief break for a Chess / Checker session in January 1953.

Recording for Chief started in April 1957 and there was then a two year break as Elmore went into retirement in Jackson following a heart attack. In late 1959 he was persuaded to return to Chicago by DJ Bill Hill and while playing live dates there he was spotted by NYC label owner Bobby Robinson who recorded him in the Windy City in November of that year. Elmore's next recording session was for Chess in April 1960 but thereafter all his remaining recordings were for Robinson, mostly in NYC with the exception of a 1961 session in New Orleans.

There's a lack of background information on the tracks on this album, so here we go - starting with original issue of the tracks, followed by recording session and more detailed first issue information -

01) Talk To Me Baby (I Can't Hold Out) - Blue Horizon LP 66230
02) Shake Your Moneymaker - Fire 504
03) Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby - Blue Horizon LP 66230
04) It Hurts Me Too - Chief 7004
05) The Sky Is Crying - Fire 1016
06) Cry For Me Baby - Chief 7006
07) Something Inside Of Me - Sphere Sound 713, LP 7008
08) Standing At The Crossroads - Flashback 15
09) Coming Home - Chief 7001
10) Rollin' And Tumblin' - Fire 1024
11) Take Me Where You Go - Chief 7006
12) I Need You - Sphere Sound 708, LP 7008
13) Person To Person - Bell LP 104
14) One Way Out - Sphere Sound 702, LP 7002
15) The Twelve Year Old Boy - Chief  7001
16) Dust My Broom (I Believe My Time Ain't Long) - Trumpet 146

Dust My Broom - recorded in Jackson, Mississippi, August 5th, 1951. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar) with Sonny Boy Williamson (harmonica); Leonard Ware (bass); Frock O'Dell (drums)

Dust My Broom - Elmo James / Catfish Blues - Bobo Thomas (credited to Elmo James) - Trumpet 146 - November 1951

It Hurts Me Too; Coming Home; The 12 Year Old Boy - recorded in Chicago, circa April 1957. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar) with J.T. Brown (tenor sax); Little Johnny Jones (piano); Eddie Taylor (guitar); Homesick James (bass guitar); Odie Payne (drums)

The 12 Year Old Boy / Coming Home - Elmore James and his Broom Dusters - Chief 7001 - May 1957

It Hurts Me Too / Elmore's Contribution To Jazz - Elmore James and His Broomdusters - Chief 7004 - July 1957

Cry For Me Baby; Take Me Where You Go - recorded in Chicago, autumn 1957. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal) with J.T. Brown (tenor sax); Willie Johnson (guitar); Eddie Taylor (bass guitar); Willie Dixon (bass); Fred Below (drums)

Cry For Me Baby / Take Me Where You Go - Elmore James and His Broomdusters - Chief 7006 - December 1957

The Sky Is Crying - recorded in Chicago, November 1959. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar) with J.T. Brown (tenor sax) and poss Boyd Atkins (tenor sax); Little Johnny Jones (piano); Homesick James (bass guitar); Odie Payne (drums)

The Sky Is Crying / Held My Baby Last Night - Elmo James and his Broomdusters - Fire 1016 - April 1960

Rollin' And Tumblin'; I Need You; Something Inside Of Me - recorded in New York City, circa May 1960. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar) with unknown horns, saxes, Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (baritone sax); prob Johnny Acey (piano); Wild Jimmy Spruill (guitar); Homesick James (bass guitar); Belton Evans (drums)

Rollin And Tumblin / I'm Worried - Elmore James and His Broom Dusters - Fire 1024 - July 1960

Shake Your Money Maker / I Need You - Elmore James - Sphere Sound 708 - October 1965

Something Inside Me (unedited version) released on Sphere Sound LP 7008 "I Need You" in January 1966

Something Inside Me (edited version) / She Done Move - Sphere Sound 713 - November 1967

"Standing At The Crossroads"; "One Way Out"; "Person To Person" - recorded in New York City, late 1960 / early 1961. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar); with Danny Moore (trumpet); prob Dickie Harris (trombone); prob George Coleman (tenor sax); Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (baritone sax); Johnny Acey (piano); Riff Ruffin (guitar); unknown bass, Johnny Williams (drums)

My Bleeding Heart / One Way Out - Elmo James - Sphere Sound 703 - March 1965. Both sides also on 1965 Sphere LP 7002 "The Sky Is Crying."

The Sky Is Crying / Standing At The Crossroads - Elmore James - Flashback 15 - June 1965

Person To Person - Elmore James - Bell LP 104 (UK) "Something Inside Of Me" - 1968

"Shake Your Moneymaker" recorded in New Orleans, circa summer 1961. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar); Johnny "Big Moose" Walker (piano); Sammy Lee Bully (bass guitar); King Mose Taylor (drums)

Look On Yonder Wall / Shake Your Moneymaker - Elmore James - Fire 504 - December 1961

"Talk To Me Baby" and "Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby" recorded in New York City, February 21st, 1963. This was Elmore James' last recording session. Personnel: Elmore James (vocal, guitar); with Johnny "Big Moose" Walker (piano) plus unknown bass and drums.

Talk To Me Baby and Can't Stop Loving My Baby - first released on 1969 Blue Horizon LP 66230 "To Know A Man" in the UK.

Elsewhere On The Blog:

Blues After Hours (Crown CLP 5168)

The above LP (donated by Marv) is the one referred to in Dave Kelly's reminiscence on the back cover of "One Way Out." A superb little comp of Bihari sides. As are the following two LPs -

The Resurrection Of Elmore James

The Legend Of Elmore James

Recommended Purchase (if you can still find it):

 

King Of The Slide Guitar is a Charly 3CD set containing his complete Chief and Bobby Robinson recordings, plus the original "Dust My Broom" from Trumpet. The information in the accompanying booklets by Les Fancourt is the source of the track info above.